The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

In tribal mediation | Over 100 students released after being stopped for compulsory service in Autonomous Administration areas

Al-Raqqa province: SOHR activists have reported that the Internal Security Forces have released 107 college students, who were arrested by Al-Asayesh in Al-Raqqa and its countryside in areas held by SDF to undergo compulsory service.

According to reliable SOHR sources, a member of the Senate in Al-Raqqa mediated with Al-Asayesh to release the students, after their families called for tribe dignitaries to interfere to release the students.

On August 22, SOHR activists reported that the Internal Security Forces “Al-Asayesh” arrested two college students, while they were returning to their parents, through Al-Tabka crossing in northern Al-Raqqa countryside, to make them undergo compulsory service.

On July 24, SOHR sources reported that several areas in Al-Raqqah city experienced a joint campaign by the Internal Security Forces and the traffic and military police since Wednesday. Joint patrols had been stationed at the entrances of the city, while checkpoints had been deployed on the city’s junctions, streets and outdoors markets. Security members stationed on these checkpoints checked IDs of passers-by, searching for young men who are liable for mandatory conscription, as well as checking car licenses and ownership documents.

According to SOHR sources in Al-Raqqah city, nearly 100 young men aged eighteen onward were arrested by the SDF military police at these checkpoints and taken to the Self-defence Forces’ academy (the former 17th Division) and Al-Kassarat area in the south of Al-Raqqah city. Also, over 200 vehicles were confiscated at the checkpoints, as their drivers had no ownership documents and licenses or had committed traffic offences.

On the other hand, a similar campaign by security forces is underway in Al-Hasakah countryside in search for individuals liable for mandatory conscription in the ranks of “Self-defence Forces.”